Mike Wells is in his second season as assistant coach at George Mason. He arrived in Fairfax
following an extensive career in the professional ranks, most recently as
assistant coach and advance scout with the NBA's Washington Wizards.
Wells spent two seasons with
the Wizards, part of an NBA coaching career that spans 17 seasons in total. He
came to the Wizards after spending four seasons in the same role with the San
Antonio Spurs, including San Antonio's NBA Championship season in 2007. Prior
to joining the Spurs, Wells spent the 2004-05 season as an assistant coach with
the Los Angeles Lakers under Rudy Tomjanovich.
Wells began his career in the
NBA in 1995 with the eventual NBA Champion Houston Rockets as the team's
assistant video coordinator, and was promoted to video coordinator in 1996. His
stint with the Rockets spanned 10 seasons as he became a full-time assistant
coach during the summer of 1999. Wells served as a scout for USA Basketball from
1998-2003 under Tomjanovich and Larry Brown, including the 1998 FIBA World
Championships, and the 2000 Summer Olympics when the USA won the gold medal in
Sydney, Australia.
Wells has also served four different summers as the head
scout for USA Basketball's senior national team (1998-2003) under head coaches
Rudy Tomjanovich and Larry Brown. Wells worked for USAB with the 1998 Bronze
medal winning team at the FIBA World Championships in Athens, Greece, the 1999
Pre Olympic qualifying tournament of the Americas in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the 2000
Gold medal winning team at the summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia and finally
helping head Coach Larry Brown and assistant coach Greg Popovich with the 2003
Pre Olympic qualifying tournament also in San Juan.
Wells has also spent two summers helping coach in the NBA's
Basketball without boards program. First coaching kids in camps held in Caracas,
Venezuela, San Juan and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and in 2006 he
helped coach the top 50 high school kids in Europe at the basketball without
boarders European camp held in Treviso, Italy.
A 1993 graduate of Mount
Vernon Nazarene, Wells played two seasons for the Cougars before obtaining his degree in Sports Management, then served as an assistant coach for the Cougars for two
seasons while he obtained a Master's Degree in Sports Science from the United
States Sports Academy.
He and his wife, Jacqueline, have two sons, Trenton and Troy, and reside in Fairfax.
